Body Art

A 2007 Harris Poll reported 40% of Americans, 25-40 years of age, had at least one tattoo. Twenty years ago that number was only 30% and fifty years ago that number was even smaller at .5% (Martin & Dula, 2010). Therefore, it can be concluded that the prevalence of body art is increasing. Body art is a term usually applied to tattooing, scarification, and the wearing of jewelry in non-traditional sites on the body. Individuals are increasingly decorating and expressing themselves with tattoos and body piercing (Scully & Chen, 1994). Body art can offer a concrete and readily available solution for many of the identity crises and conflicts normative to adolescent development (Martin, 2000). In using such decorations, adolescents can support their efforts at independence, privacy, and insulation (Martin, 2000). Seeking individuation, tattooed adolescents can become established from others and singled out as unique (Martin, 2000).

Tattooing has had a long history even prior to the discovery of a tattooed man embedded in ice, a find that suggested the practice occurred around 3200 B.C. ( Dorfer et al., 1999). Prior to that discovery, tattooing was thought to have gotten its start as an ancient Egyptian practice around the time of 3500 B.C. (Stevenson, 2004). In 1769, tattooing made its first appearance in America, also known as the New World. The first “New World” tattoos were seen on sailors returning home from their voyages to the South Pacific (Post, 1968). Tattooing practices have become more widespread and occasionally socially acceptable in the Western world after that time (Sanders, 1991).

Body art fosters a sense of community, as well as self-expression and self-awareness. (Gold, Schorzman, Murray, Downs, & Tolentino, 20...

... middle of paper ...

...ative social consequences, including negative perceptions formed toward that person because of their body art (Resenhoeft, Villa, & Wiseman, 2008). On the other hand, researchers have argued that the trend in tattooing and piercing shows a shift in fashion, and a break with body art's exclusive association with lower class people and deviant activities (Martin, 2000).This argument shows that the concept of tattoos or piercings are a form of self-mutilation or a way of negatively expressing an attitude is rejected (Martin, 2000). However, little evidence has been presented to demonstrate that the correlation between body art and sociability. We believe that there is a positive correlation between a person’s sociability and the body art they have. We believe that the more outgoing an individual is the more likely they are to have a positive attitude toward body art.